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The World Cup bid adieu to Canada with the end of the Round of 16 at BC Place on Tuesday afternoon. 

Of course, there will still be many events and watch parties happening around town, and Granville Street will remain open to pedestrians. But the marches to the games at BC Place are done, and the grass will be pulled out soon from the stadium, marking the end of the tournament in Vancouver. 

It’s a bit of a sad occasion, to be honest, as the world had rave reviews about the way that Vancouver hosted its seven games. Even yesterday, as I was talking to a member of the press from New Zealand who had visited multiple other stadiums on the west coast for the tournament, he repeatedly told me how vibrant and exciting the atmosphere was in Vancouver, something he didn’t see elsewhere to the same degree. 

With that, let’s get on with the last 10 takeaways of the World Cup in Vancouver, as Switzerland beat Colombia 1-0 in penalties. 

It was all yellow

Perhaps some other Coldplay songs could apply to this game as well—”Sparks” or “Fix You” maybe—but no, other than one section in the upper bowl that was reserved for Swiss fans, the stands at BC Place would have made Colonel Mustard proud. And the Colombia fans in those (pretty awesome) jerseys didn’t let the moment pass them. They were passionate and full of vigour throughout a match that had its challenges, to say the least. 

The game on the field was… tough

Colombia was arguably the most talented squad that BC Place played host to during the World Cup (yes, there’s an argument for Belgium there), but La Tricolor created chances all over the place against a disciplined and structured Swiss team. In particular, Luis Diaz was able to break open the Swiss defence a few times. But between Switzerland keeper Gregor Kobel being fantastic (he was named Man of the Match in an obvious decision) and Colombia repeatedly missing the net on open shots, it just wasn’t to be. Which led to…

The crowd outside was dejected

The yellows turned blue. One could only imagine the absolute insanity that was in store for Vancouver’s downtown if Colombia had won. The dancing, the celebrating, the cheering. It would have been an absolutely epic send-off to Canada’s hosting duties. Instead, we watched a sad sulphur leak slowly eke its way up Georgia Street in hopes of drowning its sorrows somewhere. 

If Canada drew…

Unfortunately, there are so, so many “what ifs” around the tournament for Canada and Vancouver in particular. What if Vancouver had managed to tie the Swiss?

Well, Les Rouges would have stayed playing in Vancouver. We would have been treated to two more absolutely electric games from the home team. Instead, Vancouverites got a largely impassioned Switzerland-Algeria game, followed by a 0-0 game in which the team nobody wanted to win did. 

Imagine Colombia vs. Canada in the Round 16. Sure, ticket prices would have been insane. And it might have even got a little heated. But no matter who won, there would be partying in the streets afterward. What a time we could have had. 

Some members of the media were overly passionate, to put it charitably

There were media members wearing the merch of both teams, but it just must be said that the Swiss dude who was shouting during the PKs and TWICE loudly banged his desk is a clown. I can live with a little media bias (though admittedly it’s somewhat unsettling to see media wear the colours of one of the team, let alone actual merch). But don’t loudly cheer and bang on stuff. In the words of the (first) immortal Michael Jordan meme: Stop it. Get some help. 

We are done with the Swiss win song

Not to hate on the Swiss too much, but if I have to listen to “Freed From Desire” one more time (after hearing it constantly during Switzerland’s three wins at BC Place), I’m going to jam something into my ears. It’s not quite at “Chelsea Dagger” levels, but it’s close. Gala isn’t even Swiss! Choose some artist who is actually from the country like… OK I have no suggestions. I guess I am hating on the Swiss. 

Some of the other music choices were on point

Playing “Macarena” during the Hydration Break was a great call. It got the Colombian fans dancing and jiving and back into the action. Again, it was a 0-0 game. You’ve gotta get the people going somehow. 

All roads lead to Tom Cochrane

I’ve ragged a bit on the World Cup for not taking advantage of halftime shows and getting talented local folks to sing the anthems of countries (a missed opportunity but also maybe it would have been weird to bring someone in to sing Algeria’s anthem that is essentially “Fuck the French”), so I was happy to be teased with what was billed as a special halftime show. 

And it was mostly charming when Tom Cochrane was trotted out to sing “Life Is a Highway” on a small stage with some pyrotechnics going off randomly as Colombian fans sorta danced around and pretended they knew what was happening. 

It was good to see some Canucks

Former Canucks goaltender Kirk McLean introduced Cochrane (with Olympian Jon Montgomery), and he was far from the only Canuck in attendance. Current goaltender Thatcher Demko was there, as was former captain Trevor Linden. Those in the know gave each man a good dose of applause when they appeared on screen.

Bidding adieu to BC Place

This is as much a reminder to myself as it is to everyone reading this, but I hope we don’t take BC Place for granted after this. It should be home to regular soccer games; that much is obviously clear. And while Whitecaps games aren’t the same for any number of reasons, this World Cup showed off a gem of a stadium, and it put to the forefront the power and the passion that we, the people of Vancouver, possess. Save the ‘Caps. And do something about it, too. I know I’ll be back through BC Place’s gates. I hope you will too.